Nuclear medicine is a medical specialty that uses safe, painless, and cost-effective techniques both to image the body and treat disease. Nuclear medicine imaging is unique in that it documents organ function and structure, in contrast to diagnostic radiology, which is based upon anatomy. It is a way to gather medical information that may otherwise be unavailable, require surgery, or necessitate more expensive diagnostic tests.

As an integral part of patient care, nuclear medicine is used in the diagnosis, management, treatment, and prevention of serious disease. Nuclear medicine imaging procedures often identify abnormalities very early in the progression of a disease -long before some medical problems are apparent with other diagnostic tests. This early detection allows a disease to be treated early in its course when there may be a more successful prognosis.

Nuclear medicine uses very small amounts of radioactive materials or radiopharmaceuticals to diagnose and and treat disease. Radiopharmaceuticals are substances that are attracted to specific organs, bones, or tissues. The radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine emit gamma rays that can be detected externally by special types of cameras: gamma or PET cameras. These cameras work in conjunction with computers used to form images that provide data and information about the area of the body being imaged. The amount of radiation from a nuclear medicine procedure is comparable to that received during a diagnostic x-ray.

Today, nuclear medicine offers procedures that are helpful to a broad span of medical specialties, from pediatrics to cardiology to psychiatry. There are nearly one hundred different nuclear medicine imaging procedures available and not a major organ system which is not imaged by nuclear medicine.

Facts about Nuclear Medicine

• An estimated 10 to 12 million nuclear medicine imaging and therapeutic• procedures are performed each year in the United States.
  
  
• Nuclear medicine procedures are unique, safe, and cost-effective.
  
  
• There are nearly 100 different nuclear medicine imaging procedures available today.
  
  
• Nuclear medicine uniquely provides information about both the function and structure of virtually every major organ system within the body.
  
  
• Nuclear medicine procedures are among the safest diagnostic imaging tests available.
  
  
• The amount of radiation in a nuclear medicine procedure is comparable to that received during a diagnostic x-ray.
  
  
• Nuclear medicine procedures are painless and do not require anesthesia.
  
  
• Children commonly undergo nuclear medicine procedures to evaluate bone• pain, injuries, infection, or kidney and bladder function. Common nuclear medicine applications include diagnosis and treatment of hyperthyroidism•(Grave's Disease), cardiac stress tests to analyze heart function, bone scans for•orthopedic injuries, lung scans for blood clots, and liver and gall bladder•procedures to diagnose abnormal function or blockages.
  
  
• There are approximately 2,700 full-time equivalent nuclear medicine physicians and 14,000 certified nuclear medicine technologists nationwide.